Taiwan’s Ma Yun-zhong and Huang Pin-chieh yesterday won gold in the mixed pair under-30 poomsae event at the World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships in Goyang, South Korea.
Their medal raises Taiwan’s gold tally to four, following Friday’s wins by Yeh Poh, Chiou Mu-en and Chang Chen-bo in the men’s under-30 team, Teng Wen-chih and Yang Chang-ying in the mixed 15-17 pair and Yeh Ping-hsuan and Chang Yu-chin in the mixed 12-14 pair events.
The men’s under-30 team beat the host country for the top prize in poomsae — a set of offensive and defensive patterns performed against imaginary opponents — while Vietnam and Indonesia won the bronze medals.
Photo: Tsai Yun-jung, Taipei Times
“It was unbelievable,” 23-year-old Chiou told the World Taekwondo Web site. “We beat Team [South] Korea — in [South] Korea.”
The team won for displaying coordination in performing moves as a unit and good team chemistry, the World Taekwondo Web site said.
“All of us are individuals, we have different styles, but as a team, we needed to get rid of some of our specialties,” Chiou said. “We spent a lot of time developing the chemistry.”
The three teamed up on short notice to qualify at the national tryouts last month, World Taekwondo said.
Taiwan yesterday also won three silver medals: Liu Kuan-fu in the boys’ 12-14 individual event; Chang Yu-chin, Shen Chen-wen and Lin Yu-hsuan in the girls’ 12-14 team event; and Hsu Yu-jan in the girls’ under-17 individual freestyle event.
Friday’s silver-medal winners were: Lee Ying-hsuan, Li Chieh-yu and Kuo Yan-yu in the women’s under-30 team event; Yang Chang-ying in the girls’ 15-17 individual event; Chang Yi-hsuan in the girls’ 12-14 individual event; and the national team in the mixed over-17 freestyle category.
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